Ohio State’s returning players know this about preseason camp under coach Urban Meyer: There’s no telling what is coming next.

“They change the events around to always keep us on guard,” senior guard Andrew Norwell said. “But there’s definitely an advantage, being in the system for one year. You know what to expect (overall), what the coaches are expecting of you.”

They should know if for no other reason than because it is painted on a wall at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center: “Represent … 4-6 seconds of relentless effort and focus! … point A to point B as hard as you can! … Do your job!”

In preseason camp, the coaches and support staff expect the players to take it up a notch or two from that. Safety C.J. Barnett remembers that from last year.

The truly tough stretch begins today with the start of two-a-day practices. The other day, freshman cornerback Eli Apple tweeted that the first two-a-day will fall on his birthday, calling it the perfect present.

Preseason camps used to be even more grueling before the NCAA mandated that teams no longer could conduct two-a-days on consecutive days, something football players at almost every level had endured as a rite of passage. Quality and intensity are what Meyer and his assistants demand at practices now, as they head toward the season opener on Aug. 31 against Buffalo. Toward that goal, Meyer introduced a new word to the Buckeyes’ football lexicon last year: Ackerman.

It’s an obscure practice field located on the corner of Ackerman Road and Fred Taylor Drive. As the crow flies, it’s just over a quarter-mile from the football facility. But as the buses take the team on a circuitous half-mile route, they might as well be heading into another county.

“We’re going over to Ackerman, two-a-days in the heat of August,” Norwell said.

As Meyer said during a midday break this week, the once-a-day acclimatization practices at the start of camp “are like candy.” As it kicks into full gear today and into next week, “I’m sure people will already be asleep on their mattresses by now,” he said, referring to the blowup pads the players are afforded to catch a nap in the NCAA-mandated downtime between sessions.

“Camp is terrible,” Meyer said of what’s asked of the players. “Ackerman Field, it’s awful.”

But it’s the destination du jour for the Buckeyes.

“You’ve just got to grind; guys have to stay focused,” Norwell said. “And you just basically have to get your mind right for that.”

After a year in the Meyer system, the returning players know to expect the unexpected.

And Hall and his teammates never know that the next event might be.“Like just in the middle of practice sometimes we can go straight into a conditioning period when we thought we were going to team (scrimmaging session),” he said. “So we’ve got to stay on our toes, be ready for anything. Change of direction-type things, he’s big on that.”